The Palisander Drawing Room
'The Palisander Drawing Room' The future Empress of Imperial Russia, was born in Darmstadt, Germany on the 6th of June, 1872. Her parents were the Grand Duke, and Grand Duchess von Hessen und bei Rhein. (Louix IV of Hesse-Darmstadt, and his wife the second-eldest daughter of Queen Victoria, Princess Alice of Great Britain) Prinzessin Alix von Hessen und bei Rhein lived in a pre-dominately English setting and environment. The Grand Ducal Family lived simply, yet elegantly in the Neues Palais in Hesse-Darmstadt. This place held fond memories of the future Empress' childhood, and also held fond memories of the palaces her family owned, residences and parks and the like where she and her siblings would play and see relatives, what have you. When the young Prinzessin Alix became Empress Alexandra Feodorovna, she made it her objective to re-create the comfort and practicalities of the homes she so dearly loved back in Darmstadt. One of these rooms, was made for this purpose and was given the nickname of Alexandra's Darmstadt Memories Room. This room was the Palisander Drawing Room. Palisander is another name for Rosewood, which the space owed it's name to. The Palisander Drawing Room was fourth in-line of Her Imperial Majesty's Private apartments, and could be entered either three ways. One pocket double-door entered from the Ground Floor corridor, and the other two entrances were on either side of the room. There were the double doors to the Mauve (Lilac) Boudoir, and another set of double doors that entered from the Maple Drawing Room. This room was called the Palisander or Rosewood Drawing Room, for one main reason. It's paneling, wainscoting, doors, fireplace, and the furniture all were in a lusterous, and warm Rosewood paneling that was highly polished. The room's carpeting was English, and sewn in strips having a similar design to the Empress' Boudoir with leaf vines, cris-crossing in a diamond pattern with floral wreathes in shades of soft purples. A great crystal and gilt-bronze chandelier in the Empire-style hung in the center of the room. Against the left-hand corner of the room was a custom-built Rosewood-paneled fireplace, with lots of shelving. Faberge pieces, and pieces by Gallé. There were reminders all over the room, of the Empress' child-hood home. Near the fireplace was a specially-made screen that had water-colours of all the places she lived at and visited during her childhood as a young girl. The shelves of the Chippendale fireplace as it was called were filled with Danish porcelain pieces from the Royal Copenhagen Factory. There were many artworks in this room, chosen both by the Emperor and his wife. Some notable pieces include the two featured on either side of the Rosewood fireplace. The one on the left was The Annunciation which was an Art Nouveau-styled piece, and the painting on the right of the fireplace was Madonna and Child, by Paul Thuman. There was also two paintings of her parents, the Grand Duke, and Grand Duchess von Hessen und bei Rhein. The painting of her father (Louis IV) was by Plueskow in 1894, and the painting of her mother (Princess Alice of Great Britain) was a copy painted by Kobervein. The largest artwork in the entire space was a massive canvas of Romrod Castle in Hesse. The Tsar himself chose many pieces by Russian artists, and a watercolour by the English artist Sir Edward Poynter. The high walls were hung with straw-green hued Moire as were the draperies, and portieres, which had rich fringe and tassels adorning them. The furniture of this space was custom-designed by Meltzer, who was the Court Decorator during the reign of Tsar Nicholas II. Meltzer blended together the English Arts and Crafts style, with the still emerging Art Nouveau style, giving the result of a very fine and elegant English interior, which the Empress adored very much. The upholstery for the furniture was in muted Arts and Crafts colours, with floral patterns woven in the material. This room also became some-what of a family joke, because of several or so furniture pieces made in the Chippendale style, that were very bulky and did not fit in with the rest of the arrangement of the space. As it was known, back then this room was also the Empress' Memories room. It held for her such sentimental value, and precious things. She kept all of her children's baby clothes in here as well as her own. She also kept every single thing her children had made or had given to her in this space. A special chest was designed for her which she loved very-much and she kept all these things in her special chest. Before the 1902 - 1903 re-decorating and renovations which were the largest ever executed in the Alexander Palace, and during her tenure as Empress of Imperial Russia, the Palisander Drawing Room was the principal sitting-room of the Imperial Family. It was kept as such after the Maple Drawing Room, and New Study were built into the former Concert Hall/Ball Room. The Empress and her beloved husband; Tsar Nicholas II would show this room to people, they favoured above anyone else, which were usually very close confidants, and family members of both sides. The Palisander Drawing Room, not only served as a sitting-room but also as a small dining space, and was usually the sight of the Imperial Family's daily teas. This room was also where, during the uncertain days of the Russian Empire Her Imperial Majesty used one of two telephones which were in this room, to keep in contact with the Winter Palace Command, General Ressin. The other telephone was to the outside. On the 1st of August, in 1917 the former Imperial Family departed from their beloved Alexander Palace, and went into permanent exile never to return. Not long after their departure, the Alexander Palace was made into a museum honouring the Russian Imperial Family. Everything from placement of furniture, to the placement of fotographs were kept as close possible to how they were left when the Imperial Family left Tsarskoe Selo for the last time in August of 1917. This museum operated right up until the beginning of World War II. During the duration of the Second World War, the Palace was occupied by the Nazi's and their Spanish allies. They used the Alexander Palace as the German Military Command, and during this period many of the interiors of the Palace, including the Palisander Drawing Room were ruined or damaged. Out of all the former Imperial residences, the Alexander Palace showed the best signs of preservation with little to no damage. It was here that the museum curators, and workers brought back scores of pieces, historically significant and what have you making the Palace into a sort of depository for all the priceless artifacts from the bombarded larger residences such as the Catherine, Pavlovsk, Peterhof, and even the Winter Palaces. There were hopes and even plans to re-store the Alexander Palace to how it appeared back in 1917, but the leader of the Soviet Empire, Josef Stalin did not want anyone to recognise anything of the old regime of Tsar Nicholas II, and had everything that remained inside the Palace interiorly torn out, and made into a generic Russian Museum, nothing left except the walls and parquette flooring. Period interiors such as the Empress' Formal Reception Room, and the Tsar's New Study, and his Formal Reception Room are all that remain of the East or Imperial Wing. Today, the Palisander Drawing Room retainers absolutely nothing of the lusterous, warm Rosewood wainscoting or paneled doors that graced this space. There are mock pieces of furniture, and some original art pieces hung on the walls, and on tables to give the feel of the Empress' long lost English sitting-room. The Palisander Drawing Room, as it appears today The former Pallisander Drawing Room (7) .jpg|The pocket double-doors that entered into the Ground Floor corridor, and bits of reminders. The former Pallisander Drawing Room (8) .jpg|Mock-up pieces of furniture give the feel of what once was, a charming English sitting-room. A back-drop constrasts strikingly with what appears today.